Dzeko howler sums up stuttering City... and they could be nine points off Chelsea before they play another Premier League game

Manchester City are about to discover if their quest for a quadruple is actually something of a curse.

After two weeks without a Barclays Premier League game, Manuel Pellegrini and his players will now have to wait another three for the next one as Sunday’s Capital One Cup final against Sunderland, a FA Cup quarter-final with Wigan and the Champions League second leg against Barcelona take precedence.

By then, City could find themselves nine points behind leaders Chelsea as the fixtures pile up.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch Pellegrini: The most important thing is three points

Congestion: Edin Dzeko missing an open goal against Stoke - Manchester City could find themselves nine points behind Chelsea by the time they play their next Premier League game

Pile up: Manuel Pellegrini's men have to face fixtures on four fronts, meaning they will fall behind on Premier League duties

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Stoke have lost on all six of their visits to the Etihad in the Premier League by an aggregate of 15-0.

Pellegrini deserves great credit for maintaining progress on four fronts but his players don’t have to look far for proof that success can come at a price.

Samir Nasri was a member of the Arsenal side who were chasing the quadruple when they went into the 2011 League Cup final as odds-on favourites to beat struggling Birmingham.

After suffering a shock defeat at Wembley that day, the Gunners fell apart and won just three more games all season as they finished empty-handed.

‘I don’t have good memories in the cup because I lost the final with Arsenal,’ said the Frenchman.

‘After that, we won only two games in the league, so a win (for City over Sunderland) would be really important for us and for the confidence.

‘It’s difficult not to play a Premier League game for two weeks, but we have other targets and we are going to try to win every game.’

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Experience: Samir Nasri is keen not to suffer the same collapse as he did with Arsenal in 2011

Even taking into account City’s shock defeat to Wigan in the FA Cup final last season, there is nothing to say that history will repeat itself, however.

It would be a brave man who bets against Pellegrini securing his first trophy in English on Sunday before taking another step towards a domestic cup double — even if Champions League elimination now seems inevitable.

But signs of fatigue are starting to show in the deepest squad in English football.

Four days after City suffered that draining defeat to Barcelona with 10 men, they laboured to victory against Stoke.

Sometimes that’s the way it has to be, but they look like a team missing their mojo at the moment.

Sputtering: Yaya Toure scored the only goal of the game for a struggling City side

The unstoppable machine that produced 33 goals in nine games in January has spluttered in February with just three in five.

In City’s defence, three of those games were against Chelsea and one of the finest teams in Europe, but a goalless draw at Norwich and a one-goal win over Stoke is not what we have come to expect.

The run has coincided with the loss of top scorer Sergio Aguero, and the Argentine’s return to full training Tuesday cannot come soon enough.

On Saturday, Edin Dzeko had one of those days he will want to forget but might not be allowed to if his comical open-goal miss gets the replays it deserves.

Needed: Sergio Aguero is set to return to full training on Tuesday and he is needed desperately bu City

Alongside him, Alvaro Negredo looks like a beast that has lost its teeth, and when Pellegrini turned to Stevan Jovetic, the injury-prone Montenegro forward lasted just 13 minutes off the bench.

‘Dzeko didn’t play very well,’ admitted Pellegrini, and that was being kind. ‘Aguero can give us all a huge lift, not just for the Capital One Cup final but for the rest of the season because, for me, he is one of the top five players in the world.’

It was only as Stoke retreated and Yaya Toure was allowed to push forward that City carried enough forward threat to break down their opponents, the Ivorian re-adjusting his feet in a way Dzeko found impossible to poke home a 70th-minute winner.

Criticised: Dzeko did not enjoy his afternoon against Stoke

‘It wasn’t exactly a great goal,’ said Stoke’s ex-City midfielder Stephen Ireland, but it was enough to mean that the Potters once again left their most unhappy of hunting grounds with nothing.

Manager Mark Hughes knows that the fight to beat relegation was never going to hinge on winning away at his old club.

‘It was important to come here and not be steamrollered like the vast majority of teams because goal difference is going to be a key thing,’ said Hughes. ‘Some of the guys in the dressing-room were saying that on most other occasions they’ve been here they haven’t even had a shot on goal.’